40 



to be particles of the material in which the insects had been 

 packed. A camel's-hair brush failing to remove them, they 

 were examined under the microscope, when it was at once seen 

 that they were of vegetable origin, further investigation proving 

 that they were the dried pollen sacs of some species of Asclepiad. 

 Their adherence was so firm that a knife had to be used to 

 remove them ; after being saturated with xylol and mounted 

 in Canada balsam they became translucent, and their minute 

 structure was readily seen. They were of elongated pear shape, 

 greenish yellow in colour, and occurred in pairs attached at their 

 narrow ends to a dark-brown base, of more rigid structure, 

 formed of two short processes united at one end, the division 

 between these forming a kind of clip, by which they were firmly 

 afiixed to the pulvilli or spinous hairs on the feet of the insects. 

 Attempts to mount them i7i situ were not attended with success, 

 since the pollen sacs absorbed fluid very easily, and, becoming 

 softened, detached themselves from the clips before these and 

 the feet of the insects were sufficiently soaked to be further dealt 

 with. Whilst in the dry state the pollen sacs were more or less 

 shrivelled, giving a very imperfect idea of the general arrange- 

 ment. Unfortunately, Mr. Lewis said, the best example for 

 dry-mounting slipped from the forceps in which he was holding 

 it and got lost upon the floor, and the only remaining specimen 

 was exhibited under a binocular microscope then on the table. 

 Another microscope showed very well under higher magnification 

 a preparation of a pair of pollen sacs with the clip. Several 

 examples of the feet of insects with the clips fastened upon them 

 were also shown. 



Mr. Lewis then read an interesting extract, referring to the 

 Asclepiads, from Kerner and Oliver's Natural History of Plants^ 

 vol, ii. pp. 257-9, two figures from which he had copied and 

 exhibited in illustration of his remarks. 



Replying to a question as to the size and colour of the flower 

 of Aravja albens, Mr. Lewis said they were about the same size 

 as the cultiv^ated hyacinth, growing three or four on a stem, 

 and hanging down. In Cape Colony they were pink in colour, 

 but in the Orange River Colony they were white. 



Mr. R. Paulson, F.R.M.S., said that a similar habit had been 

 noticed in Vincitoxicitm, a shrubby plant about 18 in. high, 

 with rather inconspicuous yellow flowers. It was common in 



